


Interlude: A Conversation about Christmas

by Nahiel



Series: Childish Things [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, references to non-sexual age play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 14:43:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17388299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nahiel/pseuds/Nahiel
Summary: Draco needed to talk to someone about Harry, and it wasn’t like he could talk to his friends. And Luna was there, and she was so very understanding of everything. He hoped that Harry wouldn’t begrudge him that, but Harry was so intensely private…Takes place during "Lingering Dreams of Christmas Wishes."





	Interlude: A Conversation about Christmas

While Draco wasn’t quite ready to admit it, given that he was still in school, he was relatively certain that Harry Potter was the love of his life. This wouldn’t be a problem, not really, if it weren’t for the fact that Harry was so very damaged.

Draco didn’t like to dwell on that fact. It wasn’t fair to Harry, who was doing his best. And it wasn’t like it was unexpected, given the way that he’d fought in the war, the way that he’d sacrificed himself for everyone else. Whether or not the sacrifice had held, it still took a certain kind of mindset to be willing to walk into such a thing.

Quite frankly, if playing like a child with Luna was the only quirk Harry had developed after his experiences in the war, Draco would have thought him lucky.

But it wasn’t just the war that had left its mark on him. It was the way his friends treated him, the way that his relatives must have treated him. It was the way he’d been raised a hero, because it couldn’t just be the war.

“We have to stay for Christmas,” he said to Luna in one of their few private meetings.

They didn’t get together often to talk about Harry, because Draco thought that was a poor foundation for a relationship, but they did on occasion. And this was one such occasion. Harry had looked so defeated when he’d signed up to stay for Christmas…

“Of course we do,” Luna said, settling next to him with her usual unflappable aplomb. “I’ve already signed up, of course. You?”

“Of course,” Draco said. He was a bit uneasy at having done so. Not because he regretted signing up to stay when Harry so clearly needed their company, but because he knew that his mother was going to be furious, and he wasn’t sure how to break it to her that he was staying because of his boyfriend.

Merlin, he still didn’t even know how to tell his parents that he had a boyfriend. That conversation was going to be a disaster, he could feel it. He might not be any good at Divinations, but he definitely foresaw an argument coming.

“Are your parents going to be okay with that?” Luna asked, as shrewd as ever.

Draco knew that people still had issues with her oddness, but he’d never met a woman more capable of seeing through any number of layers of finely crafted bullshit. It was a bit terrifying, to be honest.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. He looked down at his hands. “I told them I was staying, wrote the letter as soon as I decided to do so, but I don’t think it’s going to go over very well. Especially since I didn’t exactly provide them with a reason.”

“You should tell them sooner rather than later,” Luna said. She looked around the Room, which was currently mostly normal. They had met while Harry was in class, during their one free period together. It was something they managed about once a month or so. It felt like too often, and, at times like this, not often enough.

Harry would probably be upset if he knew how often his boyfriend and their… mother-figure, Draco supposed, spoke about him. That only made Draco more resolved that he never figure it out. Which, again, probably wasn’t the healthiest way to run a relationship, but…

But Draco needed to talk to someone about Harry, and it wasn’t like he could talk to his friends. And Luna was there, and she was so very understanding of everything. He hoped that Harry wouldn’t begrudge him that, but Harry was so intensely private…

The way he’d reacted when Granger and Weasley had shown up in the Room...

Although, to be fair to Harry, that likely had something to do with the fact that Weasley called him a freak. His reaction to that had been… extreme. Draco wondered who in the world could have called him that in the past, and the only answer he could come up with was one that he didn’t care to dwell upon too closely.

He tried to remember if he’d ever called Harry that, and came up woefully blank. He knew he’d been rotten to Harry, of course he had, but all the times he’d called him names seemed particularly cruel, now that they were so much closer.

“Do you think he’ll ask us to stay?” Draco asked, trying to distract himself.

Luna’s laugh was bright, if a little sad. “Oh, Draco, you know that he won’t,” she said. She patted him on the cheek, in a gesture that would have been condescending if it had been from anyone else. In Luna, it seemed more conciliatory. “Of course he won’t tell us. You know that he doesn’t talk about things that bother him without having them pried from him.”

Draco sighed. “I know,” he muttered. “I wish that he would. I wish that…” He stopped himself from saying that he wished a lot of things were different.

He didn’t, not really. His relationship with Harry was still new, still fragile, but the quiet delight that Harry had taken in that date they’d gone on… Draco thought that he could get used to that. To the way that Harry blushed whenever he was shown romantic affection, to the way that he trembled when Draco held his hand…

Of course, Draco also thought that he’d be glad when Harry was more used to those things, because that would mean that he was doing a good job as a boyfriend. Maybe as more than a boyfriend, depending on how well things went between them.

He was terrified to admit out loud that he could see himself marrying Harry one day, and so he kept that to himself. Where it was safe from his parents’ potential derision, from Harry’s probable panic, and from the judgment of everyone else, except maybe the quiet, clever woman sitting next to him.

“Things will change,” Luna said quietly, with a confidence Draco couldn’t match. “Harry will learn that he can trust the both of us, that he can rely on us with anything, including the fact that he desperately wants us to spend holidays with him. It’s going to take time, of course, because wounded creatures are always the most skittish, and I think that Harry has been terribly wounded in many ways. But he’ll get there, Draco. I promise.”

Draco let out a small sigh, let the tension drain from his shoulders. He leaned over so that his shoulder bumped hers and said, softly, “I believe you.”

How could he not, with the conviction in her voice? He did believe her. Harry would get better, and would get his happily ever after.

Draco had never been more determined to see anything through than this.

**Author's Note:**

> The next work in this series will be called "Of Sandcastles and Tsunamis," and is nowhere near ready to begin posting.


End file.
